A sense of alienation among the parents of people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia

Anna Hunca-Bednarska

Abstract

Parents of 31 schizophrenic patients and parents of 21 healthy controls were examined with the projective Rorschach Test. Both groups were compared with respect to levels of the isolation and egocentricity indices. These two aspects had been chosen because they refer to attitudes and feelings associated with social relationships. Difficulties in communication, social withdrawal and diminished prosocial attitudes have often been reported in families of schizophrenic people. The group of parents with an ill child had a higher level of the isolation index. Individual components of the content involved in the isolation index were examined. It was revealed that the parents of ill children, and the fathers in particular, talked about clouds seen on the blots significantly more often than the other group. The parents of ill children, and the fathers in particular, perceived human figures significantly more rarely. This may reflect the fact that the feeling of isolation springs from personality and not from an external situation. The level of egocentricity did not differ in the two groups. The problem of the psychological interpretation of the content and features of expression was also discussed. The need for more humanistic research on meanings was pointed out.